How to Preserve Bloodworms?

Views: 215 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2023-01-06 Origin: Site

How to Preserve Bloodworms?

What are bloodworms? Bloodworms are Chironomid larvae. They are the main fishing bait in winter in many areas of China, especially in northern China. But do you know how to preserve bloodworms?

From November to April of the next year, bloodworms are the optimal fishing bait. They are the favorite food of fishes in winter. Just as a saying about fishing goes, earthworms in spring and pasta in summer, bloodworms are the best in winter. It can be seen how important bloodworms are for fishing in winter, as well as fishing on ice or fishing by the water after ice melting in spring. Particularly, bloodworms are used as fishing baits from October to the days before the May Day of the next year when the temperature starts to increase in May and fish fries become active to make trouble. In this case, the fishing baits are alternated to commercial baits..

1. Types of bloodworms

According to the research and textual research of zoologists, there is a wide range of bloodworms in the world, from tropical swamps to polar regions, from plains to glaciers over 5600 meters. At present, there are more than 5000 known chironomidae species in the world, and about 500 known in China. The bloodworms we find in the ornamental fish market and fishing gear shop are just a few of them.

Bloodworms vary in size, thickness and length. Fishermen are used to dividing them into male and female. The male worms are 20-30mm long, 1-1.2mm in diameter (thick), short and tough, with blue black head, tough skin and tear resistance. They are the big bloodworms used as bait. The female worms are 25-30mm long and less than 1mm in diameter, their bodies are thin and soft, and their heads are black or green. They are often used as lure. There are also small bloodworms with body length of only 1cm, which are mainly used for feeding ornamental fish, and can also be mashed and mixed in pasta as bait. However, the male worms and female worms mentioned here are actually different species of bloodworms, which are just the names that fishermen are used to calling.

2. Selection of bloodworms

Bloodworms can be used as fishing bait, but they are of quality difference. Therefore, we should choose while buying or collecting them. Like the commonly known sturdy male worms with blue black forehead, they are easy to store and durable, and are most favored by anglers. Tie them to the hook and the worms will be like a blooming red chrysanthemum, sinking under the water and twisting constantly, which has great attraction for fishes. And the worms are easy to be found and eaten by fishes. On the other hand, those so-called female worms with green or black forehead, light red body, long knots, and soft and slender body are difficult to raise but easy to die, and they are not of easy use when fishing. Tie them to the hook and the worms are almost dead and unable to wriggle. The effect of luring fishes is far less than that of male worms. Also, because they are soft and droop in water, fishes (especially small crucian carp) often only catch the worm body that stretches out of the hook when they eat the bait, and they raise their heads and swim away before they are hooked, resulting in a high rate of empty hooks. At the same time, if small miscellaneous fishes make trouble and peck the worms, there will be only a thin layer of white skin left, completely losing the function of luring fish. Male worms are selected from the artificially collected bloodworms one by one, so the price is pretty high, 5-10 times higher than that of female worms. When the male bloodworms is used for fishing, the amount is far less than that of the female worms. The male worms can be hung on the hook like an earthworm, and they are much stronger than the female worms, so anglers often use the male worms as bait when fishing. The female worms are cheap, and they are mostly used as baits to gather fishes or used with commercial baits.

3. How to preserve bloodworms?

If there are too many bloodworms collected or purchased, which cannot be used up in one fishing trip, they need to be kept. There are many ways to keep bloodworms. Here are some common methods.

1) Simple storage: Put the rest bloodworms in tea brine or wrap them with wet cloth for storage of 2-3 days.

2) Soil storage: Put the bloodworms in a basin with water and sediment for storage. The bloodworms can live for a long time, but when they are used, it is needed to separate worms from sediment with a specially made screen, which is more laborious.

3) Short-term storage in plastic bags in refrigerator: Bloodworms are afraid of heat but not afraid of cold. They can be temporarily packed in plastic bags and stored in a refrigeration compartment for 10-15 days.

4) Long-term storage in utensils in refrigerator: Put the bloodworms into large enamel bowls, glass containers, stainless steel lunch boxes, or small porcelain basins containing clear water, and store the containers in the refrigeration room or outdoors in winter, preventing them from freezing. Change the water once every 1-2 days, and pick out the blackened dead bloodworms in time. By this method of keeping and raising, bloodworms have a long survival time and it is convenient to use them. However, it should be noted that plastic products and aluminum products should not be used to store bloodworms. Otherwise, the storage time will be shortened. The female worms are very difficult to keep, so they should be bought as they are to be used.

5) Storage of bundled bloodworms: Dip some water on the bundled bloodworms, divide them according to the amount of daily use, put them in small plastic bags, exhaust the air in the bags and fasten the bags to avoid water evaporation. Then put the bags in the freezer to freeze, and take them out before setting off to fish. If the journey is long and the worms might go bad due to ice melting, the bags can be stored in an insulated cup. The remaining worm bundles can also be saved in this way. But because some remaining bloodworms have died and their colors have changed, the fishing effect will be slightly worse.

6) Carrying and preservation of worm bundles: To not bundle bloodworms in the cold environment in the wild, and to start fishing in the shortest time, the anglers can bundle the worms at home before fishing. The worm bundles can be placed in a fish hook box, with all thread ends outside the box, and then the box should be stored in the refrigeration room of the refrigerator, not in a warm room, otherwise the bloodworms are liable to die and go bad. As the hooking rate of live worms is higher than that of dead worms, use live bloodworms as much as possible when the temperature conditions permit. When bloodworms are used outdoors, it should be noted that the storage temperature should not be lower than zero. The frozen bloodworms will break when touched, but the bloodworms after ice melting can continue to be used. When the temperature is below zero, the bloodworms can be put in the pocket inside the coat. When the temperature is above zero, they can be placed on ice to cool down and covered with sunshade. Hold a bundle of worms and pull out the thread during usage. Do not pull the worms, because it is easy to pull them off.

7) Live bloodworms preservation in the wild: If you are afraid that the bloodworms will not be enough, you can spread several layers of wet clothes or newspapers in a small box, put the bloodworms in, cover them with newspapers, and place them in a place where the temperature is higher than 0℃ and lower than 5℃ for storage and carrying. After fishing, store them in the container where live bloodworms are kept.

8) Commercial packaging preservation method: The bloodworms or brine shrimp baits we buy in the market are packed in small containers by a blister packaging machine. The machine heats the PVC packaging film to small box containers, completes automatic filling of bloodworms and aluminum foil heat sealing, and then attach a label and print the production date. After packaging, refrigerated transportation and storage can be applied for bloodworm preservation of several years. This is a better preservation method at present.

（Click the picture to open and view the mechanical details）

9) Live bloodworms packaging and preservation: With customized packaging film of good air permeability and special liquid medicine, after filling and packaging by a blister packing machine, the bloodworms can maintain biological activity for 14-21 days.